It's only three books, what could possibly go wrong?
by hangwan000
Summary: Just after Harry Potter finished his third year him, Professor Snape, his godfather and Remus, a bunch of his friends and his dead parents all gather in a room to read the first three books of Harry's life, could things possibly get more awkward or confusing? Well as long as Harry is involved you can sure bet on it. This is a Characters-Read-The-Books fic. No Intro Yet.
1. THE BOY WHO LIVED

Harry _Sumer after 3th year _

Snape _Summer after 3th year _

Neville _Summer after 3th year _

Ron _Sumer after 3th year _

Hermione _Summer after 3th year _

Fred _Sumer after 3th year _

George _Summer after 3th year _

Lilly _Back from the dead_

James _Back from the dead_

Lupin _Summer after 3th year _

Sirius _Summer after 3th year _

_Takes place in room of requirements_

_**No into is written yet.**_

_This will only be the first 3 books. Mostly fluff, yay!_

_This kind of story has been written to death and I just don't think I could write a proper opening for this without it either being too long or too cheeses so I'm not writing one. But there are some things you need to know for this to make sense._

_First, Lily and James don't know they died. They know something happened but they aren't sure of what. _

_Second, they have been informed already that Harry is their son._

_Third, almost this entire fic was written and spell checked between 11:00 pm- 2:30 am for two nights in a row, so sorry if it had a tone of grammar issues and sounds wired._

* * *

_Okay so this fic is going to be really fluffy and mostly about characters resolving differences and getting along. This is nowhere near realistic, but I think it might be somewhere near cute... Maybe... I hope. Anyway just don't expect this to be realistic because if it was I would have to write about 20 pages of the into just to establish how characters really feel about each other. So I'm hoping this will be short and sweet but I hope it will still a little bit longer than most reading the books fics. _

_I hope you like this!_

"So," said a slightly nervous Hermione after an unendurably awkward silence. "Who wants to read first?"

When no one volunteered Hermione quickly picked up the book and sat down into one of the arm chairs, waiting for the others to do the same. Harry and Ron were the first to notice their friend and, after a bit of hasty questioning on Harry's part, they sat down next to her. Neville looked at the three Gryffindors and copied their idea of sitting down.

Waiting for the others to notice the silent command and sit down, Harry couldn't help but stare at his _dead _parents. There was no way this was real, they were _dead_!

Soon, after a couple of well-placed throat-clearings and a few quick words, everyone seemed to have found a place to sit. The Marauders had squished together on the rather small couch well Lilly took the seat next to it. The Golden Trio plus Neville sat in the four chairs facing them and after a few glares and some choice words the twins now sat on another couch with professor Snape.

"I'll start." Hermione said, trying to break through the awkward silence that had once again settled over the group.

"Of course you would!" Ron said look at her as Hermione sent him a glare.

"Be careful ickle Ronniekins-" one twin started, shaking his finger at his younger brother.

"-Don't be mean to your girl friend!" The other finished.

Ron sputtered and tried desperately to come up with a way to deny his brothers accusations and at the same time make sure they stopped mocking him about it! He did not like Hermione! Well... as a friend he guessed, but _nothing _more! No matter how many times the twins told him he always blushed around her. that was just because when ever he was in a room with her nowadays he always seemed hotter for some reason, that didn't mean he liked her!

"Hermione's not my girlfriend! She's not really like a girl anyway!" He said in desperation.

Harry, seeing the look Hermione was giving Ron, took the book and started reading rather fast.

**Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone**

**CHAPTER ONE**

**THE BOY WHO LIVED**

"We that's hopeful!" Said James, still looked at his, now older, best friends and missing the glare Severus sent him.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"Oh no!" Harry groaned, he did not want to think of his relatives at a time like this.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"What does that mean?" Asked an annoyed Sirius.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

"That sounds like my sister!" Lily said looking at the book in Harry- her son's hands. "Isn't she married to a man name Dursley?"

"Well she sure won the prize when it came to husbands." Said a sarcastic James.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

The twins snorted at this and Ron looked personally insulted. Harry just rolled his eyes and continued reading before Ron had time to go on a tangent.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.**

"Wait is it?" Asked Sirius, starting to act like his younger self again.

"Maybe if you stop interrupting you will find out!" Severus said glaring at 'The Mut' who sent an equally terrifying one back at him.

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"Hey what's wrong with us!" James said puffing out his chest.

"Must I make a list?" Retorted the potions master.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years;**

**in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"And thank you for that!" Said one of the twins.

Lilly looked completely shocked and struggled to find words to express her emotions. Of course she hadn't pretended that her relationship with her sister was a good one. She knew her sister didn't like her, Petunia had refused to go to her wedding and never seemed to be anywhere near the phone when Lily called, but is was hard to hear her sister talk so badly of her.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"What do you mean 'a child like that'! Our little-whittle Harry is a perfectly fine person!" Shouted on of the twins. Much to Harry's embarrassment now everyone was looking at him.

"I agree." Neville said quietly well putting his arm on Harrys in a comforting way.

"Yeah I'm sure there is nothing wrong with my son!" James said.

Severus looked as though he was about to tell James Potter what exactly was wrong with his son, but was cut off by Lupin. "Trust me James, there is nothing wrong with Harry."

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"Huh, he was a brat even then." Ron said thoughtfully.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

"What's a car?" Both James and Sirius said at the same time.

Hermione opened her mouth to explain but Lily stopped her "Latter honey." Lily said softly and patted her husband's arm.

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

"That sounds like Professor mcgonagall." Harry said.

"I wonder if it is her." Neville said in reply.

"Don't be stupid, Why would Professor Mcgonagall be at Harry's relatives?" Ron said with a slight edge to his voice.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"What's a drill?" Asked Ron this time.

"It's a muggle tool that makes holes in the walls." Hermione said with a clear bite in her voice. If Ron had been confused if she was still mad at him for saying she wasn't a girl, he didn't have any question in his mind now.

Lily couldn't help but smile at the exchange, they really were acting like her and James did back in school.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"What's so strange about that?" Asked one of the twins.

"Muggles don't wear cloaks." Lily said as Hermione opened her mouth to say something along the same lines. They both looked at each other and started giggling a little. It was then that that whole strangeness of the situation they were in set in for Hermione. She had laughed with Harry's mother, Harry's _dead _mother.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it.**

Professor Snape snorted in annoyance, was this man really this dense? If all muggles were like this they would have no trouble hiding the Wizarding World.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

"What's so strange about that?" Sirius asked Moony.

"Muggles don't see many owles." Harry said after seeing Professor Lupin's confusion to his godfather's question.

"What do they use then?" The older Potter asked.

"Muggles deliver their own mail." The younger Potter said.

"Isn't that a bit inconvenient?"

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning.**

"Why do I get the feeling things aren't going to stay that way?" Hermione said in a groan.

"Well this book is about Harry, and things never stay normal with him." Ron said shrugging his shoulders like it was most obvious thing in the world.

Harry sent the pair of them a glare but continued reading anyway.

**He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime,**

"He sure sounds like a happy person!" The twins said sarcastically together.

"Trust me. he's not." Harry said looking a bit uneasy.

Snape just glared at the younger Potter, sure this man may not be nice but the Potter's relatives treated him like royalty. It would be good for Potter to have someone a bit more... strict in his life, maybe then finally he would learn some manners.

"What do you mean by that?" James asked, looking at Harr- his son for an explanation. However when it became clear Harry had no intention of answering he started reading again.

**when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. **

"Well you make all of us uneasy too so I think it's a fair trade." One of the Twins said.

**This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry"**

"Wonderful, more of your admirers." Snape said under his breath. His face showed no fear but he was getting an uneasy feeling about what day the book was talking about.

Snape's comment had not been as quiet as he thought because when he looked up he saw most of the room (and worst of all Lily) glaring at him.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid.**

"Hey look he finally admits it!" One of the twins said excitedly!

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry.**

"It's not that common of a name." James said.

"It is in the muggle world."

**Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"Yeah Harold!" The twins said looking at Harry.

"Shut it." He quickly replied feeling his face heat up.

"Come on now Harvey! Is that any way to talk to your favorite twins?"

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that...**

Lilly looked extremely hurt at this and burrowed her self into her husbands side. The only person who seemed to notice was Snape, who looked like he wanted to say something but after a few seconds he thought against it. It wasn't like she wanted to talk to him anyway, god knows he had tried enough times when they were in school.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak.**

"Why is everyone gathered in the same place?" asked Neville.

"They aren't," Harry said, "I think Uncle Vernon works in the middle of London."

**He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Oh my god." Said both Sirius and Moony as they realized what day this book started on.

"He's gone?" Asked a rather happy looking Lily and James. "Finally? What happened?"

No one wanted to answer them and the look of happiness in their faces didn't help.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"That must have been hard!" Said Ron, trying to lighten to mood. It didn't work.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"WHAT?!" Cried both the twins as one stood up and pretend to faint into the others arms, much to the annoyance of Professor Snape who was now regretting not putting up more of a fight when it came to seating arrangements.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"That has to be Professor Mcgonagall, right?" Asked Neville looking around the room for some support.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior?**

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

Lily glanced over at her husband with an evil look, "You would never do that, right?" She asked.

"Um, no! Of course not! Never!" He said putting his arms up in defeat.

Sirius and Remus couldn't hold in the giggles.

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's**

**owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since**

**sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's**

**not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Do you think that was Ted Tonks?" Asked Remus to no one in particular.

"He did always want to be a news caster." Replied James thoughtfully.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"Yes and would anyone mind explaining why so many people are talking about us?" Asked James.

Everyone in the room besides Lily and Severus sent a pitying look to the couple on the Couch. How do you tell someone they're dead?

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Lilly looked almost to the point of crying but when Remus asked she simply said she was okay and stared at the wall.

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

"What does he mean 'her crowd?'" Asked Ron.

"Witches and wizards." Harry replied easily.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare.**

"Coward!" One of the twins said.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"No one did!" Said James, glaring at the the book like it was responsible.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for**

**something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed.**

"Ew!" Shouted the twins

**Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind.**

"Oh, never mind."

**His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were**

**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind...**

"Yes, we do." Said Lily sharply.

**He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...**

**How very wrong he was.**

"Well that doesn't sound the least bit ominous!" Sirius said.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"I don't know Ron, Neville might be right." Hermione said.

"But why would Professor Mcgonagall be there?"

"Who knows?" Harry said turning back to the book again.

"Maybe if you stay quiet we will find out Mr. Weasley!" Professor Snape said glaring at his students, did no one in this room have the capacity to stay quiet for more than 30 seconds?

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Okay does anyone know what's going on?" Ron asked the room.

"No idea." Harry said staring again at the book in his hands. If this was a story of his life, why did he remember none of it?

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. **

"It's not like he would care all that much." Said Sirius.

"That's just Professor Dumbledore." The twins added and got the agreement of most of all the other people in the room.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He**

**clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, **

"We need that!" Fred and George said.

"Mum would kill you!"

"That's our little brother, always taking the fun out of things."

**which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"Ha! It is her! James said looking triumphant.

"Who else could it be Prongs?" Remus said smirking at his best friend.

"I told you!" Neville said quietly well glaring slightly at Ron.

"Well how was I suppose to know that!" Ron said putting his hands up.

"You didn't have to be so mean about it." Neville said under his breath so as not to be heard.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"Well I would be too if I had sat on a wall all day." Lily said.

"That's just like you Liles, you would always defend Professor Mcgonagall." Sirius said smiling at her.

"Will you four gave her enough trouble!"

"speaking of which, why isn't Peter here?" Asked James looking around the room like he was expecting his friend To jump out of the shadows at any moment.

Sirius and Remus started to growl well Harry, Ron and Hermione put on distinctly angry faces.

"what happened?" He asked.

"Latter Prongs." Was all Remus said.

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I 've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"that's just like her, she can take something exciting find a way to make it sound childish!" James said.

"I'm sure you guys didn't help her break that habit" Lily said.

"No we agree with Harry's dad, Professor McGonagall is to tightly wound!" The twins said.

"I'm sure she had good reason to be, especially when you too always seem to find a way to cause trouble." Hermione said looking at them and trying to cover a smile.

"Like taking a Hogwarts toilet seat." Harry said quietly, but it was enough for most people to hear. Everyone who was there to remember that started to laugh.

"Now what is this about a toilet seat?" James asked.

"Nothing dad, it should come up later on in the book." Harry said, too busy laughing to realize that he had just called James dad. However James caught that and was now smiling like a fool, his son had just called him dad!

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"Wasn't he a fourth-year when we graduated?" Asked Sirius.

"No he would've had to have been at least a fifth year, right?" James said.

"No he was in his fourth year." Muttered Severus much to the surprise of all children in the room.

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

"I don't think it would matter much if they were dressed in Muggle clothes." Hermione said.

"Why?" Asked James. The ministry had always told them that it they had to go out amongst the Muggles they should try to blend in.

"Wizards always dress 20 years behind the times." Harry responded.

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all.**

"With the luck the Wizarding World seems to be having, it wouldn't surprise me." Said Severus.

**I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"what?" Asked Neville.

"It's a kind of candy." Hermione quick explained.

**"A what?"**

"Hey looks like Neville and Professor McGonagall think alike." Ron said smiling.

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

Everyone in the room besides Harry and Hermione flinched a little.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.**

"Really Harry do you have to keep saying the name?" Ron asked almost pleadingly.

"It's what's written in the book!" Harry said defensively.

**"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly.**

"It's not like Dumbledore didn't know that." Sirius said.

"Yes but he will never admit it." Said Remus

**"Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"I didn't really need to know that." Fred said.

"Yeah." The whole room and surprisingly even Professor Snape agreed.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Remus and Sirius send Harry comforting looks and smiled at him. Harry suddenly understood why they had had to read through this part, it was about why Voldemort had disappeared.

Harry and about half the room shot a quick glance to Lily and James. They didn't seem to have known that they had died, how would they take the information that they had been dead for over 12 years?

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.**

"What?" James and Lily's said looking quickly around the room expecting someone to answer.

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter **

Harry looked at the book and then at his parents and then at the book again. He didn't want to tell them, he didn't want them to know.

He tried a few times to read the lines on the page but the words were too hard to say. What if they left? What if his Mum and Dad just disappeared after hearing It?

Hermione, seeing her friends hurt slowly took the book from Harry and started reading for him.

**are - are - that they're - dead."**

"What?" Lily asked in shock well James tightened his grip around her body like he was never going to let go.

After a long and painful silence she asked again "What?"

Severus looked at her with tears in his eyes and quickly turned away, hoping no one had seen.

"What?" She said her voice now extremely shaky and she looked on the verge of crying along with her husband.

"But-" James said looking at his son, who quickly turned his head, not wanting to answer the question he was surely going to get asked.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

"Well, at least we know she likes you." Sirius said trying to lighten the mood, but the only person who seem to have cared about what he said was Remus, who just glared at him.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy.**

All eyes that weren't already on Harry now were.

"What!" James said, just starting to get his sense back and then quickly losing again.

"But how?" Asked Lily.

**No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone.**

"How though!" Asked Lily again out of shock.

"I don't know." Harry said quietly looking at the floor. "But you protected me." He said looking up at his mum.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

Harry smiled a bit and looked at his mum.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was**

**he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"WHAT?" Shouted Lily and James in unison.

"Why with them! Why the hell would Dumbledore leave you with her sister!" James shouted at the room.

"Did they treat you well?" Lily gave her son a piercing look that said: 'don't you dare lie to me or you will never hear the end of it!'

"It," Harry started, carefully picking his words "it could have been worse." He finally said trying to look happy. but no matter how hard he tried it still looked like he had swallowed a particularly ripe lemon.

Ron scoffed in hatred, "Sure it could have been worse!" The sarcasm practically dripped off voice.

Harry glared at his best mate to shut up but as Ron started to lose his anger the twins jumped in. "Really Harry! I would say it was pretty bad!-"

"-completely horrible more like it!"

"Hermione!" Harry said pleading her to continue reading after he saw that the redheads were no where near done with their rant.

The bushy haired girl looked between the angry faces of the Weasleys and Harry to the confused looks that Sirius, Remus and Neville shared and back to the hurt, angry, and confused of Harry's parents and surprisingly the slightly confused face of her potions Professor. Letting out a long sigh and wondering over the faces of the room again she slowly picked up the book and started reading again.

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall,**

"No wait!" James said stopping Hermione again. "Why did you stay at petunia's? I mean why didn't Moony or Padfoot take you?" He said gesturing to the two of them as he said their names. "Hell why didn't Peter take you?"

"James-" Remus said calmly, seeing that his old friend was about to go on one of his and Sirius's famous rants.

"No actually why didn't you guys take him! What could possibly stop you?"

"James please-" Remus tried again.

"We were otherwise detained-" Sirius started.

"WITH WHAT! Honestly what could possibly be more important than taking care of my son!" He roared at the two of them.

"James-" Lily said trying to calm him down, even though her own emotions were running pretty high.

"I was in Azkaban." Sirius said bluntly, leaving no room for confusion.

"Why?" James whispered out more to himself than anyone else.

"Sirius?" Lily quietly asked.

Remus waved slightly at Hermione to get her to keep reading well the once dead couple on the couch with them were staring off with dazed expressions.

**jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter?" Lily asked, starting to slowly get her temper back after the shock of hearing about Sirius. "He wants to explain this is a letter!"

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future **

Fred and George first out laughing while the other children in the room (excluding Harry) giggled to themselves.

"Don't. You. Dare." Harry said menacingly when he saw the looks the twins were getting in their eyes.

"But Harry Potter day!"

The-boy-who-lived put his face on his hands and groaned loudly.

Professor Snape looked carefully at the boy and then slowly shook his head, Potter was just pretending so he could get more attention. Like father like son they always say.

**- there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"I wouldn't put it past him." Sirius muttered and to Snape's Horror he found himself agreeing.

"Good old Dumbles is just like that!" James said.

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I trust Hagrid." Harry said and got the agreement of most of the room minus Professor Snape of course.

"Unless it's with a secret!" The twins said smiling.

The golden trio sent them confused looks that all seem to ask the same thing: when had the twins trusted Hagrid?

Happy at the small amount of confusion they manage to cause Fred and George Started snickering. "Ah we can't review all of our secrets-"

"-What would be the fun in that?"

**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Hey it's my bike!" Sirius said happily.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.**

"How did you motorbike get big enough for Hagrid?" Lily asked.

"You see Lily, magic!" Sirius said like he was explaining what exactly is chair does to a small child.

"Oh shut it!" She said glaring at him and smacking her husband's best friend with a couch pillow.

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"Did you ever expect to get that bike back?" Harry asked his godfather.

"Only if I didn't get into trouble the next day!" Sirius responded with a strange twinkle in his eye that seem to suggest either extreme happiness or utter madness, as they are so often the same thing.

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously**

**shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"Everyone. consciously or unconsciously, turn to look at Harry's famous scar as if they needed to reassure themselves was still there.

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. **

"Is he being serious?" Neville asked.

"You never know." Professor Snape said unconsciously. Then after realizing what exactly he had just announced started scowling at everyone who dared look at him with a newfound passion.

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. **

"Ew!" Ron exclaimed. "Harry?" He asked waiting for his friends response.

Harry just smiled and vowed he would never admit that it was a very sweet thing for Hagrid to do.

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

"Who he shouldn't be anywhere near in the first place!" Lily said. After getting over the shock of having died just six hours prior (or 12 years later) and her only son being left with her hateful sister, her overprotectiveness and anger were back at full force.

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to**

**the other two. **

"You're leaving him on a door step! In November!" Lily said bitterly and glared at the book in Hermione's hands. Did none of the adults Actually take the time to look after her son? f she was anywhere near Professor Dumbledore right now she wasn't sure she wouldn't curse him into next week.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

"You know I never did get that bike back, I wonder what he did with it?" Sirius asked with a glimmer in his eye as if he was just waiting to cause some trouble.

Remus quickly picked up on this look and scowled at his friend. "No, no way. You were a bloody nightmare on that bike and there's no way I'm letting you get back!"

"But Moony!" Sirius whined giving his friend the puppy eyes.

"No, I am not giving in this time!"

"Sorry Padfoot, but it looks like Moony is gonna try to act all mature again." James put in.

"Oh be quiet Prongs!" Remus said with a stubborn glare.

Most everyone in the room Glance at the three friends before laughing loudly.

The marauders in the room looked at each other and started laughing uncontrollably and tightly hugging each other well telling each other joyous greetings. It had finally clicked in their brains that they were back together. There was no war, there was no constant tension and there was no lingering feelings of hate, just friendship in its truest form.

Lily smiled and moved over to let the three long lost friends sit next to each other. It was nice to see them acting like them old selves again, like who they were in school.

After enough smiles and laughter was shared by all but one (who went unnoticed glaring in the corner) Hermione decided enough was enough and went back to reading again.

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

* * *

_26 pages later and we're finally done with the chapter! I'll go spellcheck this crap in the morning, right now it's 2:47am and I need sleep._

_ask me if you have any question about this or want anything changed_

_I hope you liked it!_


	2. THE VANISHING GLASS

_Yay! It's chapter 2! _

_Okay so I need your help with a few things to make this story better. _

_First, what should I call everyone? Because The stories all going to be told in third person it means I can use any names for the people that they ever been called. However thIs brings a pretty big problem, what should I call specific people? The hardest right now is Severus because I can either call him Severus, Snape or Professor Snape. So if you guys have any opinions on that just tell me_

_Second, how long do you want each chapter to be? To make these things pretty long with drawn out explanations or I can skip the opening to each chapter and make the dialogue pretty scarce. Again if you have any opinions about that I just tell me._

_**Southhoof: thank you so much! You have no idea how nice it is to hear that someone likes this. I promise I will keep writing this fic at least the end of book one, but I really want to get to book 3 So that'll keep me writing.**_

_**Gleefan2009: thank you! By the way u like your story about Rachel! I don't really watch much glee but I know the plot and have seen a few episodes. your story was really good!**_

_**Anyeshabaner: yes... Eventually... Hopefully... :) no but in all seriousness they will be friendly again by the end of book one. I'm sorry but you're going to have to go through some of their fighting.**_

_**branchkk: I really hope that doesn't happen to my story but it might. Even if it does I'm going to keep writing this. If you really want to read it and it gets taken down I'll just PM you the chapters. **_

_**Me: your name is slightly confusing... :) anyway thank you I plan on writing more! **_

_**I don't own any of the story. I am making no money off of this, it's just a writing exercise. If you're reading this story just to find the first Harry Potter book online there's already a PDF copy that you can download so stop trying so hard. **_

_**Anyway hope you enjoy chapter 2!**_

* * *

"So who wants to read next?" Harry said after taking the book from Hermione.

"Wait, first let me get this straight." James said getting a thoughtful look on his face. "Me and Lily died, _somehow _my son manage to kill Voldemort, you went to your relatives because Padfoot was in prison for some _unexplained _reason and Moony was doing _something _else at the time." he pointed at Harry and sent a glare to his best friends. "Now 12, almost 13 years later me and Lil's are still alive and we are all reading a book about your life?" James said to looking around the room and waiting to see if someone would correct him. "Oh! And for _some reason _nobody likes Peter!"

"That sounds just about right Prongs." Sirius said smiling at James.

"Right, just making sure."

"So who wants to read next?" Harry asked again.

"Wait," this time it was Lily who interrupted her son. "Why couldn't Remus take Harry?"

"They wouldn't tell me where he was." Remus said in a small defeated voice that managed to show all the pain he had felt in the past over this matter. "There are laws against people like me being able to look after children."

"Why did nobody from the order take him? What about Arabella? Or Emmeline? Or why the bloody hell didn't you!" She said now addressing Severus for the first time since being brought back to life.

Everyone in the room sat in silence and shock. The kids in the room stared, gaping at the two adults well the rest of the Marauders looked helplessly at each other trying to sort out if this was something they should be a part of or just ignore.

"Me!" Severus said in shock, completely forgetting about all the other people in the room.

"Yes you! What? Did you think my son would lead the perfect life with Petunia? You know what she's like!" Hate seemed to be flowing from her voice and her facial expression wasn't exactly conveying a happy person.

"Oh yes of course!" He started in a hysterical tone "I was supposed to know what you wanted!"

Lily looked ready to tear him a new one, when James finally decided that his assistance was, in fact, required to defend his wife. "Oh shut up!"

Fred and George watch the escalating scene with a knowing look. They might not have known what the fight was about, but it looked like later it would be extremely awkward as it already was, there was no need to let the adults say anything else they might regret. After hearing their own mum and dad fight enough times, they knew of several ways to get adults to shut up. So after signaling Harry he threw them the book and the twins opened up to the second chapter and started reading.

**CHAPTER TWO**

**THE VANISHING GLASS**

It seem to work perfectly because now instead of glaring at each other The older occupants of the room were busy staring at the twins or glaring at one another.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets - but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"You were still there though, right?" Remus asked Harry.

"Yes." He replied feeling suddenly awkward because now all of the adults were looking at him.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

"That doesn't sound like a fun way to wake up." Neville commented quietly.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"You have a good memory." Ron offhandedly said.

Hermione and Neville shook their heads to agree.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"You cook?" Sirius asked in slight shock

Harry simply nodded his head yes in answer to this godfathers question.

"How long have you been cooking?" James asked, just as shocked as Sirius. It was a common joke amongst pure-blood families that the Potters couldn't cook to save their lives.

Harry again nonverbally answered his father's question by shrugging his shoulders and stared at his lap. Harry had a pretty good idea of what this chapter would be about, and he really hope it wouldn't mention some the things he thought it might.

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing..."**

A few people in the room laughed at Harry's antics.

**Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, **

"Ewwww!" Ron let out a long grumble.

**put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"WHAT?" The room of requirements was very quickly filled with angry shouts and the intense feeling of magic that could snap at bag moment.

Sirius and Remus were growling, James looked confused then very suddenly overtaken by anger and Lily looked torn between marching down to sisters house and kill her right there or scooping her son up in a huge hug. Hermione let her mouth hanging open look like a large O, Neville looked at Harry with extreme concern, Harry was just trying to hide and Severus, with all his years of training as a spy, could not keep the slightest bits of shock from flashing across his face. In fact the only people who didn't look appalled by this information was the three Weasley boys.

Hermione quickly notice the lack of extreme shock on Ron's face and asked him about it.

"Well with what happened in our second year, i'm not that surprised." She said looking at her and shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

"What happened in your second year?" Lily asked, now turning her attention to her son.

"Later." He said and quickly gestured for the twins to keep reading.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,**

"What. The. Hell." Lily spat out as she glared daggers at the book in Harry's hands. It honestly was a miracle that she hadn't lost control of her magic yet. Lily was so mad at her sister- no, mad didn't even begin to describe how she was feeling, she wanted revenge. How could Petunia let anything happen to her son!

As mad as Lily looked she couldn't even compared to her husband's fury. No one treated his son like that. No one! How could that fat, pretentious, bully of a child even dare to touch his son!

James couldn't help but feel this whole thing was somehow his own fault, if he hadn't died Harry would have had a perfect childhood. He had let down his family, he was supposed to be there for them no matter what. Not only had he let his wife be killed, but because he wasn't there for his son Harry had been bullied his whole life.

Sirius was, honest to God, growling like a deranged dog from his spot on the couch and Remus's own growls weren't helping him to stop. No one should have to have put up with what it was sounding like Harry had. Lilly's own family had hurt him, Sirius's own godson!

**but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, **

Harry didn't dare look up from his lap as the twins read this. He already knew how every one would look. Harry couldn't stand to see the disappointed faces of his parents and friends. He, Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived, was afraid of his own muggle relatives, it was pathetic.

**but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held****together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**

Lily could take it anymore, her son was right there! She just couldn't stand not cuddling him and making sure her was okay.

Making her mind up, Lily got up and walked over to her sweet little kid who had his eyes firmly planted in his lap. She put her hand on his shoulder and wait till Harry slowly looked up at her. She smiled sincerely at her only son and quickly wrapped him up in a tight hug before he could protest.

To say Harry was shock was an understatement. His mum was hugging him. His _mom _was hugging _him_! He loved the feeling of her breath on his shoulder and her arms encasing him, protecting him, caring for him!

They stayed like that for the longest time, mother and son hugging. Lily's calm Breaths soon increased into panic intakes of air and then until light sobs. She wrapped her arms tighter around him and buried her face into the top of black nest of hair.

After unraveling her self Lily pulled back to look him over and saw that he was lightly crying too. Her motherly instincts settling in, she quickly wiped away the warm tears from his face and smiled warmly at him, her son.

Lily stood up and without any words being spoken got Harry to stand with her. She led him over to the couch where James, Sirius and Remus were sitting and placed him on her lap after she sat down. Nothing could ruin this moment for her, she had her son, her loving (yet slightly annoying) husband, and her best friends with her. Not even being in the same room as Severus could ruin this. Hell, the bloody dark lord could barge in here and it wouldn't matter, no one could take this away from her.

Harry was vaguely aware how childish this all was, but he didn't care. He just didn't care that his best friends were watching him, he didn't care that Hermione looked ready to cry herself at how sweet it all was, he didn't even care that Snape was watching. The mean potions master could mock Harry all he wanted for this later, it didn't matter. His mum wanted him. Nothing could possibly feel better than being wanted by her.

James was ecstatic to say the least. His son was right her, next to him on his wife's lap! His green eyed little boy was sitting comfortably next to him and looked rather happy himself about it. James put his hand on Harry's knee and gave Harry one of his biggest smiles when his son met his eyes. The little baby he remembered holding just a few days ago was now a grown, talented, boy of 13 years. It hurt like hell to have missed so much of his son's life, but James would make it up to him, her would make up all the lost time with his son.

Everyone in the room watched the exchange silently, not daring to make any kind of noise that would disrupted the family. Only after a few minutes when Harry was starting to look relaxed did the twins start reading again.

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

Lily just tightened her hold on her son and James put an arm around his back when they heard that Petunia had lied to him. The couple would find a way to get back at Lily's sister someday, it just didn't matter right now.

Everyone else didn't look to call too calm about the lie, but they didn't comment after seeming how happy the family looked.

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

Sirius looked hateful at the way Harry's uncle acted and moved closer to the kid along with Moony.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put**

**together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place.**

"Sorry, that's just the Potter blood in you!" James said smiling

"Oh thanks." Harry replied sarcastically making almost everyone in the room smile a little.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a**

**pig in a wig.**

The twins stopped reading to laugh loudly at Harry's comparison.

"He acts like one too!" Ron put in.

"Ron, that's an insult to pigs everywhere!" One of the twins said smiling.

"Is he really that bad?" Neville asked.

"Oh you have no idea." Harry said sighing and looking lost in memories for a minute.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"How is he sad?" Hermione asked shocked.

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

Many pitying looks were sent to Harry at this. Not liking the atension, Harry turned around and Nestled his head in his mother's neck.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that alright''**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"How can someone honestly be that stupid!" Severus said to the surprise that the rest of the room.

However even more surprising was the fact that Hermione agreed with him. "How can anyone be that bratty is a better question! It's insufferable and obnoxious!" She ranted.

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"How could someone encourage that!" Moony snarled

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

Lily slowly trailed her hand along her son's side to try to calm down but found that wasn't helpful because she could feel his ribs. She couldn't even find if in her self to be angry anymore. In the past half an hour she had been more angry then should could ever remember, the pain she felt when when Severus called her a mudblood couldn't even compare to this. She felt that she didn't even have any anger left, she had used it all and was just left with sadness.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind**

"Of course!" James said deflated. Lily look at him and found that, like herself, he had used all of her anger.

**with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"That sounds horrible mate!" Ron exclaimed with a smile.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. **

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"He has a name." Neville said quietly. He knew how much it hurt to have people never call you by you name, his own uncle had called him Frank most of his life.

"Thanks Nev." Harry said again quietly.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"What's a cuputter?" The youngest red-head asked

"Computer Ron." Hermione started in her lecturing voice. "You can write documents and search for information."

"Why would Dudley have one then?" The twins asked.

"You can also play games on it." Harry said.

"Oh that makes sense!"

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"They never do." He muttered slowly climbing of his mom's lap to sit beside her and his dad.

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."**

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

"What, are you a dog?" Severus asked disgusted, under his breath. The-boy-who-lived was suppose to have lead a pampered life, now it seemed that a piece of trash would be treated better than this boy was.

He had broken his promise to Lily, he had failed to protect her son. There was no way she would ever forgive him, so why try? The only time she had even looked at him was to yell at him, why did he keep trying. Severus Snape was a lost cause if ever there was one.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Brat!" All of the Weasleys said together.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"God he's worse than Draco!" Ron said angrily. Severus looked cross when he sent Weasley a look. Draco was _his _godson and there was no way Snape would stand by well Draco was compared to that Arrogant slob.

**Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's**

"Get away from him!" Sirius spat out.

**"I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, **

**"honestly.. But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

Severus turned away from the group and tried to erase the thought from his mind that him and Harry had similar childhoods.

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) - The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

After the long moment of silence when everyone took in this new information Neville quietly squeaked out: "You were punished for accidental magic?" He asked in shock.

"Erm, yeah." Harry said quietly, not really wanting to meet anyone's eyes. This chapter was horrible!

"Muggles-" the clumsy Gryffindor said in awe.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

"Harry, you've never been to London?" Hermione asked like it was most horrible thing in the world.

"No, I don't think so. I think Hagrid took me, but I'm not sure if that's where we were." He said a little unsure, what was the big deal about visiting London anyway?

"We have to go!" She said in a voice that was usually Reserved for the rare times the library got a new book or she just started a good one.

"Really 'mione? That's what you focus on?" Ron asked throwing his hands up.

"It's a very well-known city and we live so close to it!" She said in retaliation after seeing Harry wasn't going to help her with this one.

"Well I haven't been either!" Hermione just kept looking at the two of them with her mouth wide-open.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Oh Harry." Several people groaned and Hermione just shook her head.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"'Dangerous ideas'?" Neville asked.

"Just Magic." Harry said simply.

"Well that didn't work then!" Ron said snorting.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"Harry you are insulting gorillas everywhere, shame on you!" The twins said in laughter.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Can't you try to stay trouble for once?" Hermione asked helplessly.

"It's not like I go looking for it, Trouble finds me!" Harry said in his defense.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"Harry you empathising with a caged animal is not a good thing!" Remus said with a strange look in his eyes.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"Snakes don't have eyelids." Severus said out loud to himself.

"This one did!" Harry defended himself.

"Professor Snape is right Harry, snakes don't have eyelid." Hermione said giving him her look.

"Maybe it's just Harry's weird thing with snakes." Ron said offhandedly.

"What thing with snakes?" Sirius asked.

"Erm, latter." Harry said

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time.**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

"How can you understand it?" James asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and burrowed in deeper in between his parents to try to get away from people's stares.

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil. **

**"Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"I would love to have seen that!" The twins said in small giggles.

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.**

Many displeased looks were passed around the room.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"Why? What happened?" Lily said tensing and grabbing Harrys arm to reassure herself that he was still there.

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had. vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

Harry tilted his head thoughtfully, "I really hope it made it."

"Harry, that's just weird." Sirius said staring at Harry like he had never met him before well Moony laughed under his breath at Sirius expression.

James however was still staring at his son as if he had grown another head "You're a Parselmouth? But how?"

"I don't know, I've always been able to talk to snakes." Harry says shrugging his shoulders.

"Always?" Lily asked, trying to get him to explain more. She didn't really understand why this was a big deal, but she knew that it was.

"Yeah, at least as long as I can remember. When I was five or six I found a snake on the playground at school, she was nice."

"Great, my son likes snakes," James said putting his head in his hands. "At least you aren't in slytherin, right?"

"Erm, no." Harry said hesitantly, what would his father do when he found out that his son had almost been a snake.

"Slytherin is a noble house Potter." Severus said, glaring again at James.

"Pfft. Right!" He said sarcastically "There isn't anyone sorted into Slytherin who doesn't become an evil, heartless, son of a bitch."

"James." Lily warned she gently put her hand on his leg. She may not like Sev but that didn't mean she wanted him to be picked on again.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

The phrase 'Oh no.' was passed around the room several different times from several different people.

"Why did he have to say anything?" One of the twins said.

"It's not like it would've really mattered, I would've been blamed for it eventually." Harry argued, not quite sure who exactly he was trying to defend.

"But still! Why did he have to open his mouth?" Ron asked throwing his hands up.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"WHAT? Lily and James asked together in shock. "They didn't feed you?" If you listen hard enough you could actually hear the rage coming off the pair, and all other people in the room.

"Well they did, eventually." Harry quietly replied, shrinking in on himself again.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

Everyone in the room, even Severus, looked mortified at that. Most could couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like growing up like that. Having to sneak around to get your food, constantly making breakfast, not going out of the house, sleeping in a cupboard. It all sounded like a bad Cinderella story, only it had actually happened to the boy they all had in common.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as**

**long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"You remember that?" Sirius and Remus asked horrified well Lily and James tightened their hold on their son.

"Yeah, it got worse with the whole dementor thing."

"What dementor thing?" James asked.

"Latter Prongs." Remus said calmly.

"Will anyone tell me anything!"

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

Lily had started subconsciously trailing her hand over Harry's back and quickly pulled him into a large hug.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.**

"Sorry." Muttered both Sirius and Remus.

**Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers**

**they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"Well that's another chapter done." Said Fred.

"I'll read next." Remus said, getting up and taking the book.

Severus Snape barely heard any of the exchange and really didn't care either, he was too lost in his own mind. This chapter has revealed the truth he didn't want to think about, the spoiled Boy-Who-Lived was not pampered like he had first thought. In fact the boys childhood sounded so bad it really was a miracle he turned out the way he did. If there was any truth to the book Potter Jr. should be a closed off boy suspicious of anyone's behavior.

The book must be lying then, he told himself, there was no way there's any truth behind any of this. But his subconscious chose to disagree, it would explain some of the things he saw the boy doing that, at the time, he had thought of as attempts to make oneself more famous.

No this couldn't be true, if it was it would mean Severus had failed Lily once again, and he didn't think he could take it.

* * *

_I guess this chapter is pretty short, only 19 pages. Oh well I'll try and make the next one longer. Anyway thank you can for reading and I hope you like it!_


	3. THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE

_Okay Quick note, if the story ever does get taken down please PM me your email and I will send you the Google doc this is being written on._

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing, the stories just written for fun and as a practice story. The book __Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone __or __Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone __is owned by JK ROWLING and not me. All the words in bold after the Break Line are hers and I cannot take credit for them. _

_**Anyeshabaner: don't worry Lily and James won't just disappear at the end of the story. That would be evil and sad! **_

_**Phoenixfirehope: Thank you so much! I was really worried about not writing the characters right. **_

_**Southhoof: thank you! I tried to not have characters interrupt as much. I don't know if that will stay... But you know I tried.**_

_**Guest who thinks my story is illegal: okay so I understand where you're coming from with that, I don't like people who copywrite much is the next but hear me out. The reason I think it's okay for me to post the actual words on the story is because currently I found at least 4 PDF versions of the first book online for free. I'm also assuming anybody who is reading this has at least read the first book once or twice. So anyway... please don't report me, but you know if you want to... You know, that's cool too.**_

_**Dragonfire - Jessie Sparrow: here you go!**_

_**Madnessdownunder2: thank you! **_

_**Sevvus: thank you so much! Your review made my day! And yes I agree he needs a hug. I plan on having him and Lily make up by the end of book one, then he will get a hug!**_

* * *

"I'm hungry!" Ron stated loudly.

"Ronald you are always hungry!" Hermione said with a sigh at her growing friend.

"I agree with little-Ronnie-upkins!" One of the twins said with a laugh.

"Shut up!" The boy in mention said glaring at his two brothers.

"I don't know, I could eat something too." Lily said leaning into her husband's side.

"Yeah being dead for 13 years really leaves you with an appetite!" James said trying to lessen the tension that had formed in the room after the last chapter.

"Yes but there is no food in here." Hermione said stating the obvious for them.

"This is the room of requirements right?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah I think so." Remus said, scrunching up his face in thought.

Sirius looked extremely happy and, after a few choice words under his breath, a plate of crackers, meats, cheeses and fruits appeared on the coffee table in front of them.

Ron looked ready to fall over in happiness well the rest of the room contained their joy just a little better. Almost everyone very quickly scrambled to get a bit of everything and soon everyone was silently eating well they watched the Weasleys in the middle of a very amusing fight over who would get the last piece of chicken.

As the small meal was finished and Ron was triumphantly eating a piece of chicken the rooms occupants started talking to one another again.

"Does anyone know where these books came from?" Hermione asked.

"No idea." James said shrugging his shoulders.

"But it would have to take a very strong bit of magic to make them. And even if some one could why send it to us?"

"I dunno." Ron said "maybe it's like destiny or something."

"No but Hermione makes a good point." Lily said finishing her last cracker. "Why would anyone do something like this, and how? They would have to not only bring me and James back to life but also place us all in the same place, not to mention making the books!"

"Maybe all these books exist in another world or something and they just sent them over, I don't know!" Ron said exasperated.

"Why would anyone write books about me?" Harry asked.

Hermione stared at him like he was crazy "Harry they do write books about you, remember?"

"Yeah but they're not all about me, right?"

"You all are overthinking this!" George said.

"Yeah stop think so much!" Fred added

"That would explain your O.W.L scores in potions." Severus Snape said under his breath.

"So Sirius?" James said putting on a cheesy smile "Have you met anyone?"

Sirius's cheeks lit up in a no one thought was even possible Before he turned his head away and put on a frown. "No James I have not met anyone. God, dieing didn't make you any better!"

James added another layer to his already cheesy smile. "You know you missed me!"

"Not nearly enough." Sirius sent under his breath as most of the room broke out in small giggles.

"That's not saying Sirius didn't try to met anyone." Remus said raising his eyebrow suggestive way.

Sirius glared madly at his friend before deciding that he Needed revenge. "Oh you were seeing a woman at one point, what was her name?"

"Shut up!" Remus hissed as his face turned bright beat red.

"Really?" James asked, leaning forward in his chair in anticipation.

"Helena! That was her name Helena!" Sirius said with a wicked grin.

"Shut up!" Remus said a little louder glancing nervously at the kids he had taught less than a few months ago. It didn't help that he found that everyone was watching intently even if some were trying to hide it.

"'Oh Helena is so sweet!'" Sirius said in a high-pitched voice and laughing little at how he mimicked his best friend. "'She completes my life!'"

**CHAPTER THREE**

**THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE**

Remus said loudly to get Sirius to shut up. Sadly it didn't end quite as he wanted to when Sirius, James, and most everyone in the room started laughing loudly.

Fighting frantically to get the blush to leave his face Remus started reading loudly again.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

Remus's plan seem to work very well because at the mention of Harry's relatives again most people in the room sobered up.

"How long were you in there for?" Lily asked running her hands along Harry's shoulders.

"I don't know." He said quietly focusing again on his hands to avoid everyone stares. "A couple of months."

"A couple of months?" Lily repeated, horrified.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

"'Course, that makes sense!" Ron said sarcastically.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Everyone, even those who tried to hide it, got a slightly nauseated look on their face at the mention of that god awful game.

Severus couldn't help but think of the few times some people at his school would do the same thing to him. It was painful enough to think about, but even worse to hear it happened to another person. After this story was done with he would force a bottle of firewhiskey down to forget about things. Infact if he could find a way to sneak away after this chapter...

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.**

"Oh yeah! Aren't you old enough to go to Hogwarts!" James said excitedly, but quickly dropped his previous emotion as he saw the look his son

got.

"I didn't know that yet." Harry said trying to cheer his dad up after he saw the man's face fall.

"But you did go right?"

"Of course!" Harry smiled with a look to his friends.

**When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was**

**going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"Why would that be funny?" Hermione asked "I mean it's no Hogwarts, but public schooling isn't that bad!"

"You went to a public school?" Harry asked in slight shock.

"Well yeah, of course!"

"Oh, I just thought you would've gone to a private school." Harry said carefully.

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

Hermione snuffed impatiently at this, but did a good job at refraining from saying anything.

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

A small course of laughter went throughout the room, only ending when the twins and James had calmed down enough to shut up.

"You really are a Marauder's son!" His father said proudly.

"Was there really any question?" Remus asked rolling his eyes.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"My Gran dose the same thing." Neville said.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. **

"That sounds awful!" Lily said in disgust.

"Do all Muggles dressed that way?" Ron asked

"Thank god no!" Lily affirmed.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"What kind of training is hitting each other with large sticks!" Hermione asked, clearly disgusted.

"That sounds like a horrible school!" Neville said looking slightly ill.

"Indeed." Severus said quietly enough that the people who had heard him speak weren't entirely sure that's what he did.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.**

"Ewwww!" Both of the twins said scrunching their faces up and sticking their tongues out.

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"I would have too!" Ron said with a smile.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

Several people snorted what he said well a few just shook their heads.

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"I doubt that!" James said under his breath.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. **

Severus snorted to himself, if only Potter had kept that attitude.

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High - like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick,**

"He is so rude!" Lily said in disgust.

**which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. **

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"Hey they're making him do something!" Ron said trying to be happy.

**"Make Harry get it."**

"Nope." Harry said annoyed.

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

**"Make Dudley get it."**

"Smart." Snape said glaring at the boy. Harry, feeling brave, glared right back. Severus couldn't help but be a little set off and went back to being

scrunched in the corner and pretending to ignore every one.

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"That brat!" Sirius said, although Harry wasn't sure if Siri was talking about this uncle or his cousin.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and - a letter for Harry.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives**

Harry could feel both his parents tense around him and he could practically feel the looks his friends were giving him but he chose to ignore both. It was mortifying to have everyone staring at you all the time.

**- he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

"Stamp?" Remus asked.

"It's how Muggles pay for letters." Hermione quickly explained.

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion**

"Yay!" James and Sirius said in unison, much to the annoyance of the only Slytherin in the room.

**an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

"What? Sev you aren't going to say anything?" James said glaring at the potions master.

"Some of us are, reserved, than others." Snape said sneering at his childhood enemy.

"Anyway!" Remus said quickly, trying to stop a fight before it started. James may have meant to world to Remus, and he still does, but Remus had grown up a little in the time they spent apart.

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"He is a sad, sad man." George with a sigh.

"Yes dear brother, I do agree." Harry was doing his best at not laughing at the twins but he was pretty sure he let out a giggle or two.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. -."**

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Oh Harry!" Hermione said throwing her hands up. "Why didn't you open it in the hall?"

"Hey!" He said in defense "I was ten!"

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"She always was a drama queen." Lily said quietly with disgust clear in her voice. She had long since gotten over her sadness at her sister Petunia's betrayal and was now just mad.

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"**

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"How-" Ron said in awe.

"If we did that Mum would have our heads!" A twin said.

"My mom would have me tied me down and have me killed within seconds." Sirius said.

"Can I keep reading?" Remus asked.

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly. want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine." **

"Oh no." Sirius said smiling.

"What?" Harry asked his godfather.

"Just wait."

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted**

"Yep!" Sirius said satisfied. "You got your mom's temper!"

James burst out laughing and Lily glared and the two boys- er, men.

"Yes son, yes you did!"

"What do you mean by that?" Lily said sharply.

"You two never change!" Remus said with a laugh.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address - how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

**"Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"He's crazy!" Neville quietly said to the agreement of the rest of the room.

"He gets worse." Harry said quietly. Lily and James looked at their son in concern, if this man dared to touch their baby- well anymore than he already had.

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything..."**

**"But -"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"What!" James exclaimed loudly. "What does he mean by that?!"

"Nothing." Harry said looking down and growing red. Why was everyone always looking at him?

"We will talk about this after this chapter." James said looked furious.

"Dad-"

"No Harry, this stuff is important!" Sirius said.

"It's not really a big deal." He said halfheartedly.

"Yes it is!" James, Sirius and Remus said at the same time while Lily tightened her hold on her son and lifted him back into her lap.

"But it's not that bad!" Harry weekly protested. He was smart enough to know that had already lost this fight, but, parents or not, there was no

way he was going down without a fight. He loved that his parents cared, but why couldn't they just not care about _this_.

It really wasn't helping that his godfather and Remus looked ready to kill, in fact Remus's eyes looked a bit... Different, did that have to do with being a werewolf?

"Harry-" Hermione said cautiously, clearly afraid for what her friend went through, like everyone else in the room.

"Hermione it's no big deal okay!" It was clear Harry was starting to get angry. "They just didn't like me much!"

"Harry James Potter we will be talking about this latter." James said holding onto him tightly.

"This is nonnegotiable!" Lily added seeing her son get ready to say something against the idea again.

"Fine." The little boy said giving up the fight and trying to sink into his mom's lap.

Severus had paled dramatically as the conversation progressed, he couldn't look at Harry and not see his younger self. How many times had he thought the same thing as a kid? How many times did Severus's own father say he was going to 'stomp out his freakish'?

'No, this is just too much' Severus thought looking at the wall again and putting his head on his hand. He just couldn't believe it! Why was it always Potter? Just once in his poor miserable life could it not be a Potter!

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. it was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

"What!" Neville asked, clearly appalled.

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"I hope!" James said not so under his breath.

**"Er - yes, Harry - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"He has a second bedroom?" Ron asked.

"Just wait." Remus said as he skimmed the page.

**"Why?" Asked Harry.**

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister,**

**Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.**

"Four?" Lily asked appalled.

"They must have tried really hard to be mean to you!" James said in disgust.

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

"That- that- that brat!" Hermione said trying to find the right words to describe Dudley.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"You know, that's kind of like what you did to the troll." Ron said trying to look nonchalant will he mentioned it.

"What troll?" Harry's dad asked in a panic.

"Later." Harry said glaring at Ron for bringing up that story. There was no doubt he wouldn't hear the end of it from his dad or his mom when they got to that part.

Harry had to pause in amazement for a moment, he had parents who would be mad at him! Mad _for_ him! Mad because _he_ had risked his life! Harry was hard-pressed to find a moment much happier than this, he had parents who cared about his safety now! How many times in his life that he wished for just that.

Harry really hadn't quite understood that parents were supposed to care about their kids after they almost died until last year with Ginny. In fact the entire family seemed appalled at what had happened to her. Sure his uncle and Aunt Cared about Dudley, but he never really got any real danger. Of course afterwards it seems like an obvious thing, if most parents cared when their kids scraped their knees than they would most certainly care if their child almost died. But then again he had almost died countless times before the incident with Ginny and the he never had just one consistent person to care besides Ron and Hermione.

It was just so amazing to have someone in his life now that would care about that kind stuff.

**"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley - go - just go."**

"Wait, if Dudley wanted to read the letter why did he tell everyone he had it?" Fred asked.

"He's not really the smartest person." Harry said gently.

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Oh no." Hermione said with a smirk.

"What?" Sirius, James and Lily asked almost in unison.

"Harry's plans are horrible!" Ron said waving his hands in the air.

"Yes but he is good when he's thinking on his feet." Hermione remarked.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door -**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat - something alive!**

"Tell me that's who I think it is." James muttered

"We can only hope." Sirius said gravely before breaking out in a smirk.

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

**I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"But can't you still deliver letters through the window and stuff?" Neville asked and Harry just shrugged his shoulders as an answer.

"Muggles!" Ron said as if that explained it.

"Excuse me?" Hermione glared at him.

"Er- nothing."

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

"See!" Neville said triumphantly.

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"He is crazy!" A few people said when Remus paused.

"Yeah, he had lost it a few times, but never like that." Harry said. He kept his head down so he never saw the looks his parents exchanged over his head.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside**

**each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Almost all of the Wizarding world." Snape said smoothly, ignoring the looks his statement got him.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather sick, but happy.**

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today -" **

"Why's that?" Ron asked.

"Muggles don't deliver mail on Sundays." Hermione explained sharply, still a little annoyed at him for the comment he had made earlier.

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

"Why didn't you just pick one up off the floor?" Lily asked.

Harry's eyes suddenly got very _very_ large. "I-I just never thought about it."

Everyone started laughing or giggling while Severus rolled his eyes; if Lily wasn't here right now he would have made sure Potter knew just how stupid he was being. Suddenly a very disturbing thought came to mind, Lily. Lily would no doubt find out about his treatment of _her son_. She was always the only one that cared about him, even when he was being a brat and spouting out all sorts of Pureblood things his 'friends' had told him. Clearly he had pushed her patients before, but he knew that nothing would compare to hearing about The way he had treated her only son. How many times had she told him just how much she wanted kids, she would always say that she wanted two children and would give them both endless attention. It was already clear that she would treasure the small kid sitting in her lap, hell she had died for him!

The little hope he had that he could rekindle their relationship was crashed into a million pieces. He really was just the mean dungeon bat, if Lily truly would never forget him there was no point trying to deny anything that was said about himself anymore. No doubt she would give up all hope in him (if she had any left), and if she did Severus didn't think even his quest to protect her son could help him gain some sort of closure.

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"What exactly is he trying to do?" Sirius asked although he didn't expect an answer.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

"How can you blow things up on a come-put-er?" Two of the Weasleys asked what most of the Purebloods were thinking.

"A computer." Hermione said slowly. "There are games on a _computer_ that allow you to destroy things."

"It's like Wizard chess." Harry said seeing their confused looks.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering...**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"How does she not notice anything wrong with that?" James raged

"How has no one not noticed anything at all." Remus said quietly, more to himself than anyone in particular. How had he not noticed anything within the year he taught James and Lily's son. It was his fault Harry had been left with these people. If he wasn't who he was, Remus would have been able to take the kid immediately, but the Ministry had rules against people like _him _having kids.

**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

"You're right Harry!" Fred said

"He did get worse!" George finished.

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia duly late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled**

Snape couldn't help but tense up as the word was read. Thank god it was Remus reading and not James or Sirius, if his rivals even dared to say that word Severus wasn't sure if he would attach the man right there, despite the context it was being used in. Of course he still hated the wolf with a burning passion, but Remus had apologized countless times last year for his involvement in Severus treatment, so it wasn't as worse coming from him.

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television. "**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"Oh that explains a lot." Ron said in awe.

"What?" Both Harry, Neville and Hermione said.

"That's why you were surprised to get Christmas presents!"

"Oh, yeah." Harry said.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

A few people had to stifle some giggles at this but for the most part people stayed pretty quiet.

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

"Wait," Sirius said, putting his hand up to stop Remus "there is a storm coming and you are going to be staying on an island in the middle of the sea?"

"Well it wasn't in the middle _exactly_." Harry said shrugging his shoulders.

"These people should not be allowed children." Remus muttered.

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

"You know rations doesn't sound like a meal." Ron said concerned for his best friend.

"Oh Ronald!" Hermione said trying to look exasperated and failing.

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

"How could they keep children there?" Lily asked in outrage. "It sound horrible!"

"Lily calm down." Remus said quietly.

"But- Oh fine!" She said shaking her head.

"There is nothing we can do about it now."

"I wouldn't bet on it." James muttered under his breath While he put his arm around his son, trying to protect him.

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

"That's just sad." Neville said quietly while Harry's parents hugged him closer.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creek outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

"You know, you are kind of a pessimist." Fred said.

"Honestly you're sounding worse than Percy!" Ron added.

"Percy?" Neville asked, he may not have spent much time with the Prefect, but Neville knew it was hard to do thing if you always think like that.

"Yeah, he gets really sad sometimes!" George said.

"No one can figure out why." Fred finished.

"Maybe he has depression." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"I'll tell you latter."

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty ... ten... nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him - three... two... one...**

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Well that's the end of that!" Remus said slipping a piece of paper into the book with a finished and closed it with a small huff.

Harry felt as if his stomach was in his throat. This conversation was what he was dreading since it had been brought up, talking about his time with the Dursleys. It was no fun living through and he couldn't imagine it being any more fun to talk about.

"Is there another room in here?" Lily asked the group.

"When I went to the bathroom I saw another door Ms. Potter." Neville said quietly.

"Thank you." Lily held tightly onto her son as she slowly got up from her seat and motioned for James to follow her.

The Potter family quietly exited the room with Remus and Sirius following despite Harry's looks of protest. After going through the door The little brigade found themselves in what looked like one of many bedrooms, with two double beds a dresser a large mirror and a fireplace all decked out in red and gold. The room itself looked old and grand but hardly used, the beds were folded perfectly and the mirror looked to be in the same place it had been resting in for countless years. However no one was focused on the color scheme or on the warm fire that lit itself, no the four adults in the room were focused on the skinny black haired kid who looked like he would have loved to be anywhere but here.

"Harry," Lily started out slowly when they were all placed on one of the beds. "What exactly happened?"

The boy in question looked up fearfully at his parents and then at the two men sitting on the other bed. He knew there was no good way to answer that.

"What do you mean?" He manage to squeaked out.

"Harry- erm," James took a deep breath and slowly came up with what he was going to say. "Did they ever hit you? I mean Petunia and Vernon."

"Well," Harry carefully chose his words and his his face. He didn't want to say anything that would make them too angry but he didn't think that he could get away with lying. "Not really."

"Not really?" Lily asked trying to get him to say more. God damn it this was her son! This was not the kind of conversation she didn't wanted to have with him, not now, not ever! But she knew that she had to because if Harry was anything like James he wouldn't talk about what bothered him until there was no way to get around it.

"They didn't hit me a lot." Harry bit his lip and looked at his lap "I mean sometimes Aunt Petunia would try to hit me on the head with a frying pan, but I was usually too fast for her." He said proudly.

"And your uncle?" Lily asked again.

"Um, well he didn't- I mean not that much." Harry said, suddenly losing the little confidence he had from before. What would they think of him when his parents would out that the savor of the Wizarding world couldn't even stand up to a Muggle.

"Harry." Remus warned after seeing the way he started to shut down on himself.

"Well, only when I did something wrong."

"Like what?" James said trying to keep his anger down, the calming hand Lily placed on his arm help but not enough.

"Just when I didn't get my chores done or broke something or-" he stopped and looked up and his mum and dad and hope that they wouldn't be too mad. "Or when I did magic."

"What!" James cried out, he was ready to go on a long rant but the stern faces of Lily and Remus stopped him. Amongst most if not all Wizarding families a child doing magic was a treasure event, he'll most children got parties the first time they used accidental magic.

"Harry, how did he hit you?" Remus said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"Did he hit you with his hand or-" Remus finished slowly, trying to keep his anger down. The fact that anyone hurt Harry was hard enough, but having to talk about in detail wasn't any easier.

"Um yeah, sometimes." Harry started fidgeting with his hands.

"And when he didn't?"

"Well sometimes he would use a belt, but it wasn't that often!" Harry quickly finished seeing the anger on the adult's faces. Great they were mad at him, of course! He was the one who had killed Voldemort, why couldn't he defend himself against an over weight Muggle?

"HE DID WHAT!" James roared making Harry huddle closer to his mum. "SOME OVERWEIGHT SON OF A BITCH DID THAT TO YOU?"

"Sorry." Harry mumbled quietly, putting his head down in shame.

"Harry why the hell are you sorry!" Sirius asked, speaking up for the first time. He was never very good at sensitive conversations, but he was good at getting angry, almost as good as James was.

"Harry do you think we blame you for that?" Remus asked.

"Well, yeah." Harry quietly replied like it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Harry how could we ever blame your for something like that!" Lily asked with tears in her eyes. His whole conversation was just too depressing, it was clear they had a lot to make up for, but this was just too much.

"I should have been able to stop him." Harry said looking rejected.

"No you shouldn't have had to even try! You're a kid! A little kid! My kid!" James could stop from crying anymore, no kid of should ever have it go through that especially not his.

"You're not mad?" Harry asked in hope.

"Mad? Of course I'm mad! Honestly I think I want to kill someone right now, and I think I know who! But I'm not mad at you." James finally wrapped his only son in a tight hug and slowly rubbed his son's back while the both cried. Lily couldn't take it anymore and soon joined in the hug and started sobbing as well, then Sirius joined in and after some debating Remus did as well.

"You don't hate me?" Harry asked from underneath all the people.

"We could never hate you!" Lily said grabbing her son and pulling him tighter in her arms. "We love you."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just friends and family clutch close together in a warm hug. Harry had honestly felt so happy, they didn't hate him! His family didn't hate it, in fact they loved him! Harry had never thought that he would ever be able to have a family, the Dursley made sure to tell him that he wasn't theirs and he knew he had no other relieves. But here he was, being hugged by four people who said that they cared!

Soon Harry started switching between hiccuping and sobbing as people slowly started to break away from the tight embrace. "I missed you so much!" He closed his eyes and put his head on his moms lap.

Remus decided that this was a conversation for family and led Sirius, with much hesitation, out of the room, back to where everyone else was awkwardly sitting. All eyes focused on the two of them as they made their way back onto the couch they had been sitting on before. No one talked or made a noise well everyone waited for the family to finish their talk and come back out.

When Harry, Lily and James came out a bit latter the awkwardness and the room was so Prominent that you could almost see it. Everyone wanted to know what happened but no one wanted to ask, so they just watched intensely as the family made their way back to the couch.

"So who want to read next?" Sirius finally asked after it was clear that on one was going to ask what happened or why the Potters looked like they had just been crying.

"Me!" Both the twins said at once.

The Potters however couldn't care in the slightest who read. They were completely content just sitting together, as a family.

* * *

_Okay we are now getting back to a more Realistic schedule so expect a new chapter every week or two. But if worse comes to wear then you should get one every month, I want to have the first book done in a year, so I plan on having at least two chapters out every month. _


	4. THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS

_I am sorry this took so long, I had this done about three days ago but I couldn't get to a computer to spellcheck or put this on Fanfiction. _

_Completely off-topic, does anyone ship Shassie from the TV show Psych? If so we need to talk. I just finished watching season seven and for the love of God SHASSIE!_

_So I have changed Harry's personality a bit. In the books he would be much more stubborn but I think if I try to write him like that Severus and Harry would not have enough time to reconcile, even with three books. So if Harry acts little off that might be on purpose._

_**Keepers-Grim: for your first review: thank you so much! I am so happy that you like it!**_

_**For your second: I was worried so thank you so much for helping. I just want to get my view of the characters and stories out here. So thank you for sicking up for me, I'm not really good at that.**_

_**Gleefan2009: yep I'm gonna keep this going.**_

_**Me: thank you I agree he was screwed over but sadly you can't expect people to understand that, however that does it give you an excuse to hurt other people.**_

_**Bananaphobia: first I love your name! I don't feel good about my writing so thank you! No this isn't a contest, sadly I can't find any :(. I ship Snarry to so I understand that and I have to work **__**so hard**_ _**not to put the ship in this fic. I hate it when people don't finish their stories too but to be fair that makes me a hypocrite. Again thank you so much, your review made me cry with joy at 2:30 PM when I saw it! You are so nice! I can't thank you enough.**_

_**Guest #1: thank you, I didn't like how I wrote that conversation at the end but I couldn't do better so I'm happy you liked it.**_

_**Guest #2: thank you, it means so much to me that people like this fic!**_

_**Dragonfire - Jessie Sparrow: I try ;3**_

* * *

"Okay everyone ready?" George asked

"All set!" Fred said back.

"So which one of you are reading?" James asked with a smile, realizing before anyone else in the room that they couldn't both read at the same time.

"Me!" Both The twins at the same time. they turn to give each other a strained look and Ron could see a rather impressive fight starting to come.

"You both seemed to work this out just fine when you first read." Remus said with a smile but sadly his comment went unnoticed.

"Dear brother of mine I think you are mistaken!" Fred said fake smiling at his brother and taking the book.

"Oh I think we will find that I am not." George return the smile with glee "I think you will see that I am the best to read!"

"Oh dear brother-"

"Oh what?" George said grabbing the book from Fred.

"Well George we seem to have found ourselves at an impasse." Fred said in the same sickly-sweet voice that Snape had heard so many Slytherin use it was uncanny.

"Well brother I believe we have." George said holding the book far away from his brother and much too close to his potions Professor who promptly snatched the book out of the red-head's hands.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Snape said in a smooth and and unamused voice, he could feel everyone's questioning or angry glances but chose to ignore them. He would rather not be here but since he had to had to it would've been nice to never have had to read in front of Lily but fate seemed to hate him and the Weasley twins looked ready to engage in a rather _loud _fight. At least it seemed there was some hope for him in the world because right now the woman whom he had loved seemed more focused on her son than him.

**THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS**

Severus could almost see all the questions and comments form in the brainless children's minds but a glare he sent to them seem to effectively shut them up for a little while. If he had to endure the torture of reading in front of his childhood enemies he would at least get it done fast. If he was lucky (which he usually wasn't), Lily would be to focused to her son to even care about what was being read, and specifically _who _was reading it.

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"He brought a gun?" Hermione said in outrage. However after her teacher sent her a sharp warning glance she halfheartedly responded: "sorry Professor."

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

"Wait, Hermione he means a gun? what's a gun?" Sirius asked putting a hand up to the increasingly annoyed Professor.

"Er-" she shot a look at Snape to see if he would take points from her for answering but she figured that since it was technically summer break he couldn't do anything. Besides what did it matter? She had just found out that her best friend had been abused his whole life and her other friend seemed to know this was going on! Why should Professor Snape scare her, wasn't it an adult's jobs to notice this kind of thing?

"A gun is a Muggle weapon that fires small projectiles called bullets at a target. It is very effective if you know how to use it and can injure or even kill someone." She said, and gathering up all of her Gryffindor courage she shot a menace look at her teacher who seemed to shocked by the action to respond. Ron however did catch this little action and was torn between being horrified that Muggles could kill people with little gadgets, outraged at the fact that Harry's uncle had one, or being gleeful with the knowledge that Hermione had just stood up to Snape.

"Like the killing curse?" Sirius asked horrified.

"Yes, only it's not an uncommon thing, whereas the killing curse is a rare and very illegal event." Hermione answered with her head held high.

"Can just anyone get these things?" Remus asked growing pale. He shot a glance at the Potters, expecting both of the parents to get extremely angry, but the family looked as if they were in complete Bliss. James was running his hands through his son's hair, Lily was stroking his arm and Harry looked ready to fall asleep. They looked like a cookie-cutter family and it was almost impossible to imagine that not 10 minutes ago they were discussing their son's abuse at the hands of his relatives.

"No, there are strict laws about who can buy a gun, but it's not impossible. England has stricter rules about these things than other countries of course." Hermione said in her lecture voice.

"But you can buy them at stores?" A frightened looking Neville said.

"Well yes, but only if you fill out the right paperwork." Hermione have a stern face like an old mother and seemed slightly confused on what she should be doing with her hands Before settling them in her lap.

Deciding that this was a good place in the conversation that could supposedly go on for hours, Severus started reading again.

**There was a pause. Then -**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

"That is a very Hagrid like thing to say at a time like this." Remus commented, and instantly regretted after he was placed on the receiving end of a rather nasty look from Severus.

"Yes it is." Hermione said, she honestly would do anything just to get Professor Snape annoyed at this point. He, along with the rest of them, had just learned that Harry had a horrible home life and her Professor had the nerve to get mad at them for taking?

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

Ron and both the twins snorted at Hagrid's antics, after seeing 'Mione stand up to Snape in her subtitle way, his previous glare that had kept them from making noise meant nothing.

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

The giants happy words seemed so foreign coming from the unhappy potion master's mouth. Harry, who wasn't listening to carefully did notice that his Professor was able to make Hagrid's happy words sound like an insult specifically to him, but it didn't matter. Right now Harry had his parents who _loved _him, Snape could say anything he wanted right now, Harry didn't care.

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"I wouldn't exactly call Hagrid 'fierce' Harry!" Ron said with a smile, trying to ignore the look a certain Slytherin was sending at him.

"He did look a little creepy when he blasted to door down." Harry replied nonchalantly, his voice was slightly muffled from cuddling in his dad's shoulder, but he hoped that Ron could understand him.

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."**

"Everyone says that." Harry mumbled.

"It is true." His dad said smiling at him.

"Yep you look just like James, all skinny and knobby." Sirius said with a large smile.

"Oh shut up!" James responded with the glare sent that his best friend much the amusement of his son, his wife and Remus.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. I demand that you leave at once, sit!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"That's impressive." Hermione said just a little shocked.

"Why?" Neville asked, making sure to look everywhere but in his teacher's direction.

"Guns are made of metal and therefore are very hard to break."

"Maybe he used magic." Ron replied with a shrug.

"But Hagrid was expelled remember, he doesn't have his wand anymore." Fred said from his place on the couch.

"he still has it." Harry said knowingly. The young boy clearly ignoring the questioning looks everyone seemed to be sending him, if he remember correctly they would probably learned in this chapter what he meant.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"Awe, that's sweet of him." Lily said smiling down at her son.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

A few people in the room snorted at this, it really was quite a Harry thing to say.

"Harry!" His mum said looking exasperated.

"I'm sorry!" He quickly responded after seeing what he thought was an angry glare but in reality was just a failed attempt on his mother's part to look annoyed.

"Oh sweetie it's okay." She said hugging him and laughing a was eager to please and sent back a little laugh of his own.

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced myself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

Severus couldn't help but smile internally as he realized she wouldn't have minded something stronger right now either. Did everyone need to be slightly drunk when dealing with the Potter spawn, Lily's spawn, Lily's son. Dammit! He couldn't even mock the boy anymore without thinking of her!

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

"He did magic!" George said in awe.

"Of course." Snape couldn't help but scoff, it wasn't news to any of the staff at Hogwarts that Hagrid kept his wand and used it on occasion.

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. **

**Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

"Really, Hagrid feeds every one." Ron said in awe.

"Yeah he must really hate that kid." Fred said to his brother.

"Doesn't everyone?" Sirius asked.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

**"Er - no," said Harry.**

"Of course he wouldn't know." Lily muttered so no one heard her.

**Hagrid looked shocked. **

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"Why do you apologies for every thing Jarry?" Hermione asked with a small smile.

"I don't do that." He said with a frown that made Hermione smile even more.

"Yeah you do mate."

All Severus wanted was a strong drink, a _really _strong drink, At this rate he would never get done with the chapter. One Slytherin against ten Gryffindors was hardly far, it was bad enough that he had the Potters and their followers together in one place but now they were ignoring his attempts to get them to shut up. Well Potter Jr. was being rather quiet, in fact he never really talked out much in class. Severus couldn't take this anymore! It was hard to take life as it already was, he was sure that change wouldn't help anything.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It' s them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"**

"I am looking foreword to this conversation." James said with a wicked smile.

"As am I good old James!" Sirius said with a smile.

"Why?" Neville asked. He had never really talked to Hagrid that much except for the few time the giant man had told Neville that he was like his parents, but people always told him that.

"Hagrid is kind of overprotective." Lily said thinking a little about how to put it.

"Yeah he's really nice just a little overbearing." Harry said to his house mate.

"Can I continue?" Snape asked with a sneer, trying to act like his normal self.

"What is wrong with you?" Lily asked glaring at her old friend. It was clear just by looking at home that the years had not been kind, however watching him interact with the young kid in the room made it clear that the time had not been much better. She had to really look to still see the person she used to know, now Severus was acting too much like how he had started acting in their fifth and sixth year.

Severus didn't give her a response in fear that he would just mess things up more and paled as he started reading again as fast as he could and still not show fear. How was it that he always managed to mess things up no matter how he tried.

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

Severus felt the urge to comment on that but the off putting way Lily kept looking at him made him shrink into the space on a couch even more than he thought possible. She was like Minerva in the was that she could make him feel like a small child with just a look. It really wasn't really fair that so many people he knew could give him the look that made him feel like he was a student again.

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." **

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode. "DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

Harry had to stare at his Professor every time he read a line Harry so distinctly remembered Hagrid saying to him that night, but this time it was different. Normally the professor would raise his voice a bit but this time it was louder than normal, like he was actually mad at Harry's relatives. But Harry had to be imagining that, why would someone who hated both Harry and his dad be mad that there were other people in the world who hated him besides Voldemort and the Malfoys. It just didn't make sense.

As Harry looked around around the room he saw by the others faces that he must have been the only other person to notice Snape's small bought of emotion. Maybe he had just imagined it.

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"Hey look at that Lil's we're famous!" James said with a large goofy smile as he hugged his son and wife close.

"We're famous for dying and leaving our son alone James." Lily said with a dark glare that would make even the strongest cower in fear.

However James was a special kind of person and just kept smiling like an idiot. "Well yeah there's _that_. But still!"

"You know you're still not forgiven for that James Charlus Potter." Remus said with a laugh to hide just how true that statement was.

"Oh Remus please forgive me!" James said in a mocking tone.

"James." Remus said rolling his eyes and smiling a little, as much as he loved his best friend James acted like a little kid most of the time and had a tendency to be slightly overbearing.

"But Remussss!" James whined with a large grin plastered on his face.

"Nope we are not in a forgiving mood!" Sirius said joining the conversation.

"You guys! why do you always gang up on me?"

"James calm down." Lily said trying to decide if she should be frowning or smiling at the interaction. However hearing James joke around seemed to make Harry smile so she guessed it was okay for now.

"Why does everyone hate me!" James said throwing his arms in the air and letting out a long sigh.

While most of the room laughed Severus rolled his eyes, but his action went unnoticed by all. Potter hadn't changed a bit, he was already sure of that, but having to sit through god knows how many hours with the aggravating brat was proving this to Severus more and more. Sadly not only was spending time with the older Potter an infuriating endeavor it also made clear of the fact that Potter Jr. wasn't nearly as bad. Was that really Snape's feelings or was it just because he saw himself in the Gryffindor?

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

"That did sound rather strange he said it the first time." Harry said, encouraged to speak up after the joking mood had settled over the group.

"I bet!" Neville said louder than he normally would making quite a few people stare before he retreated into this metaphorical shell.

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. "Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

Severus's words didn't 'tremble with rage' but there was a bit of the emotion of them that he hope no one had noticed.

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yer a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"- a what?" gasped Harry.**

Hermione was having a hard time keeping her giggles under control. Even with the cold potions master reading the reaction was so Harry like!

"That sounds like what I said when I was told!" She said with glee.

"Really?" Harry asked, it was easy to forget that Hermione was a Muggle-born with how much she knew about magic.

"Yep!"

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"Lily! Hagrid likes us!" James said with a smile.

"I thought that was fairly obvious. Even an idiot could have figured that out." Severus said with a sneer. His hatred had been building up this entire time and he didn't think he could hold it back any longer. It was almost impossible to have to sit quietly in the room with the man who had try to ruin his life on several occasions and may have, in a way, succeeded. James Potter had made his life at Hogwarts, Severus only escape, like hell.

James just as stupid and manipulating as he had been as a student but now he was a grown man! Severus couldn't stand when adults didn't act their age, and James was at the top of that list, with Sirius Black not far behind.

"Shut up, no one cares about you anyway. You are just a lonely old man!" James said with a well-placed scowl. What the hell was his problem, even now Snape always wanted look like he was better than everyone else!

Harry kept staring at the two from his place in between his mum and dad. Of course Dumbledore had told him that his dad and Snape were enemies, but it was still startling to see the two of them fighting like he and Malfoy would.

"But Marvelous deduction, really." The Slytherin said in retaliation Before he started reading again. As much as he would have loved to hex Potter right now, the disappointed look Lily kept giving him was enough to make him stop.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

James kept shooting Severus looks but for the most part let it go, they were both grown men for Godric sake! It was obvious that Severus still hated him and James for sure still hated him with a passion. However he would much rather yell at the slimy grease bag when his wife and son weren't watching.

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl - a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well. Hagrid**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

Several people smiled at Harry's antics but the mood in the room was still extremely tense and no one dared to say a word. The rest of the Marauders were not surprised in the slightest And therefore where the least awkward looking group, although Remus seemed to look uncomfortable in the silence. However their calm did not extend to everyone, all the Gryffindor students minus Harry looked like they were just getting over a rather large shock well Lily was stuck between wanting to help James and wanting the ignore Severus.

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

"He doesn't give up does he?" Sirius asked to no one in particular but he still looked a little disappointed when no one answered.

**Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like thern. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

Hermione tried not to be too offended by the was Hagrid was referring to people like her family. It was always hard when Pureblood Wizards or Witches talked about Muggles because even if they were like Ron's family they tended to be extremely ignorant about Muggles.

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

James and Lily both unconsciously scooted closer to their son at the mention of the abuse their son had suffered. This action, however uncontrollable it was, was only noticed by two people in the room: Harry, because he felt them tighten their grip on him, and Severus, who stole a quick glance that young and broken family.

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? **

Severus had to Swallow a lump in his throat as he watched Lily flinch at the way her sister started taking about her. Why, oh why had he chosen to read this chapter! Quickly glancing over the rest of the paragraph he felt his heart sink when he realized that Petunia's little _speech _got worse.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! **

This time it was Harry who flinched at his aunt's words. While Lily was slowly adjusting to her sisters hatred, Harry had grown up with it and had seen just how far she could go.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

James hugged Lily and his son closer while Severus fought the y something of comfort.

"Lily your sister is a bitch." Sirius said simply with a scowl on his face.

Remus patted Lily's knee and offered her a small smile along with some of the other kids in the room.

"Yes she is." The twins said in unison. Lily gave them a small teary smile before burrowing her face in her husband's and son's sides.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"That must have been a terrible way to find out mate." Ron said quietly to his friend.

"You have no idea." Harry said leaning into his mother's side and biting back tears. As much as Hagrid's visit was a rather pleasant memory for him this part wasn't at all.

**"CAR CRASH!" **

Severus read with much more emotion than he had originally planned on. That fateful night was still very much ingrained in his mind, finding the older Potter, going up the stairs, seeing Lily, oh god Lily. He could remember every minute, every second of that night. To hear her death cheapened in such a way was to much for him.

Snape had to take several deep breaths before he was calm enough to continue reading.

**roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" **

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

the statement was just a firm reminder that Harry really had no idea if what had happened most of his life and many people in the room feared that it might be explained.

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someones gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

**"Who?"**

Ron, the twins, Neville and surprisingly James flinched in preparation for what they thought was it come, but were greatly relieved when Hagrid continued mumbling along.

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

The same people flinched preparation again and were _again _let down and relieve when it didn't come.

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

Severus skim down the page while he tried to keep his hand from shaking too much when he was the next paragraph. No this was too much.

Without hesitation he quickly thrust the books into one of the Weasley's laps and gracefully got up. Aware that all eyes were on him as he quickly walked through the mangle of chairs and out the door on the other side of the room.

No one commented on his sudden disappearance and no one went to pick up the book either.

After a few minutes of everyone looking solemnly around Hermione slowly got up and took the book from Fred. She let out a small cough and started reading from where her potions Professor had left off.

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. " Hagrid shuddered.**

As did most of the people in the room, in fact everyone but Harry and Hermione and for the most part Lily looked slightly ready to throw up as she read the name.

**"Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway."**

A variety of emotions played across everyone faces as Hermione slowly made her way Through the paragraph. No one had the heart to say anything or do much more then get closer to loved ones.

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side."**

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

James let out a small sob at the sand time Lily did as memories of that night flashed through their minds. Truth be told they hadn't thought much about their deaths since coming back to the world of the living. When they had first come back the moment of death seemed to be cloudy or foreign, but as the readings went on they started to remember more. However it wasn't until Hagrid started explaining what had happened to a younger version on their son did the memory require their full attention.

Harry instantly noticed tried to be comforting to them by pating their shoulders, but he felt like he was failing tly. He had no idea about how to comfort people! Harry could still remember the awkward talk he had had with Ginny at the end of his second year. She had started crying and the only thing he had thought of doing to maker her feel better was to inexpertly rub her back and mutter 'it's okay.' like his Aunt had fine for Dudley once.

This was much worst than what had happened with Ginny though. Right now his parents looked like how he thought he did after a nightmare: anxious, alone and scared.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find - anyway..."**

Remus smiled at Lily and James, trying to comfort them "I've only talked with him once or twice, but he won't shut up about you two."

"Yeah." Lily said through fresh tears "He really is a good man."

Everyone wanted to say something but no one knew what. anything to keep Hermione from reading, anything to keep the truth from coming out like they know it would.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? **

Harry unsuccessfully tried to flatten his hair over his forehead as nine pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

**That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel**

**laugh.**

James and Lily along with the rest of the room gave him a horrified look as they realize just what the book was referring to.

"Y-you remember?" Neville asked his voice shaky as everyone else's only considerably worse because sometimes he would remember a slightly different version of that. "a-all of that?"

"Yeah," Harry looked down at his lap and started playing with his fingernails "like I said, I-it got worse, y'know with the Dementors and all." Harry's voice got considerably softer as he went on with his explanation but since the room was extremely quiet no one had any trouble listening.

Lily let out a fresh son and hugged her son like she was afraid he would drift away and never come back if she let go. Soon James awkwardly his arm around both of them then gave up his tough guy play and piled onto the group hug.

Hermione was watching with tears of both joy and sadness in her eyes when Remus reluctantly motioned for her to keep reading.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured **

If everyone hadn't been still in a slight emotional shock over the last conversation this might have gotten some more reaction, but as it stood the only thing that happen was that the Potters tried to snuggle closer together.

**- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion **

Hermione kept glancing over at Harry as she read this, and apparently she wasn't the only one. Harry and told both her and Ron about what happened last time someone had tried to bad mouth his parents.

**- asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word... "**

"Harry please tell me that they finally get what they deserve!" One of the twins said impatiently.

Harry almost immediately broke out into a wide smile that contradicted with he had just been feeling not 30 seconds ago. "You'll see!" Was all he would say about the matter.

The sadness that had been suffocating them lifted almost immediately at the joking tone Harry took as he repeatedly told the Weasleys and Sirius that they would find out soon enough what happened. Of course the previous mood wasn't gone, just covered up but that was good enough for them.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"Aw." The twins said disappointedly as they realized that they were going to have to wait longer to hear what happened to the Dursleys. Well for that reason and to keep the joking mood in the air, it was the easiest way to keep people from fighting or crying.

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go?**

Of course the good mood was mostly lost with the reading of the book but the hint happiness remained in peoples eyes even if they were anything but right now.

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don~ reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, **

Both Harry's parents looked at him with the same warmth Harry had felt from Hagrid but this meant much more. This was his parents, they were proud of him!

**but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"It doesn't work like that!" Ron said.

"Well yes he knows that _now_!" Hermione said in her friends defence.

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back...**

**and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"Yeah you are mate!" Ron said grinning at him.

"At least youre not like James, he would have let it all go to his head." Remus said, smiling for the first time after hearing Hagrid tell Harry about what happened to his parents.

"I would not!"

"Oh really?" Lily said giving him a look "remember when you were made Head Boy? You wouldn't stop talking about if for weeks!"

"I wasn't _that _bad!" James said, still trying to defend himself.

"Yes you were." Lily said sternly, ending the little argument that had made everyone smile.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL To TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Is this where-?" James asked his son. Of course the answer he got was a big smile but that was enough for most people in the room.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled**

**it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!"**

The older audience in the room took in sharp gasp of breath, they knew the over protective side of Hagrid from the war and it was not pretty.

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

"He really did that?" One of the twins asked.

"Yep!" Harry said enthusiastically.

"I thought he couldn't do magic anymore." Neville said.

"He doesn't think about those types of things when he's angry." Sirius said with a large grin.

"And boy am I happy about that!" James said with a smile just as big.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

"I'm just surprised he didn't turn pink!" Fred said.

"I dunno, if he's anything like his dad his face changes color a lot, right Harry?" George said with a wink.

"Not as much as Uncle Vernon, but yeah."

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit 'ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job"**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

**"Why were you expelled?"**

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can keep under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

Hermione shut the book and announced that she had finished the chapter. Sirius eagerly took the book and everyone soon forgot about the man that was missing from the group, well everyone except Lily.

* * *

_Okay important question do you want Lily to make up with Severus near the end of the book or in the next chapter. I was originally planning on waiting until the end, but the way I've set up the end of this chapter I think it would work too._

_Also this chapter was really hard to write, for some reason I just couldn't get it how I wanted it! So anyway sorry if it feels little off this is the best I could do. _


	5. A friendly interlude

_UBI INVENIMUS IN DOMOS NOSTRAS_

_HERE WE FOUND OUR HOMES _

_Okay if my mom asks me what I'm doing one more time I think I might just throw my computer at her and give up on writing forever ;) Ha Ha why do people read over my shoulder as I write?_

_Sorry this chapter is short but it was really hard to write and I thought it worked in its own. _

_Because this is not going to be a full chapter I'm not going to go over reviews but I have read them and thank you guys so much for commenting! It's __awesome! every time I see another review I always say:'they like me! they really like me!'_

**_So this is just a short chapter so I can start writing the two of them getting along better, don't worry there will be another bug fight once Lily sees how Severus had treated Harry. So this is just a reconciliation chapter so I can have a little bit on an easier time writing. not to worry there will be a lot of drama between Severus and everyone else latter on, I just wanted to start Hogwarts off with people not completely hating each other so much. _**

* * *

Severus Snape had had many problems and failings in his short life, there were too many to count. He discriminated against all Muggle-born based on his fathers behavior. He had let his '_friends' _lead him down a dark path of self righteousness and despair. There was the time he hit his father after his mother died (although that wasn't a _bad _memory per say). Of course when he had called Lily that word, and forever split up their friendship. And when he had taken the dark mark. It seemed that no matter how hard he had worked to fix things he had always made them worse, so after a while he had stopped trying.

Severus had worked very hard most of his life to punish himself for what he had done or forget about it. He had put the memories in a dark part of his mind to fester as nightmares, but now they were coming out again.

This whole experience had brought what he kept hidden in the back of his mind to the forefront of all of his thoughts. Seeing Lily again, _alive _was like cutting into an old wound, _he _was the reason she wouldn't look at him any more and _he _was the reason she was dead. If course seeing her with Potter had just further cemented the fact that there was nothing he could do to get her back. It was like a nightmare, every time he looked at her all he could remember was holding her pale lifeless body as he wept into her hair. It was horrific.

Of course if he ever ran our of reasons to hate himself while thing of Lily there was the matter of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

The boy was like a thorn or a bad itch that wouldn't go away. He was attention seeking, adventurous and head strung and refuse to take responsibility for anything he did. The boy was a copy of the older Potter in every way. Only he wasn't.

Only now Severus was learning through long drawn out chapters that seemed to kill him with every word. In the past few hours he had learned more about the young Potter then he had ever wanted to, and he had started despising himself again more than ever. He had been a spy, the spy and yet a sad little abused child who was constantly in the spotlight had managed to evade him. Of course it's not like he had been looking for it but- Ug!

This entire affair was too much for him to handle! He may have hated his life before but this was worse! Not more than a day ago Severus could live peacefully knowing that Harry was just like his spoiled and stuck-up father and that Lily was dead for and nothing would bring her back.

Now however everything had been thrown out the window! Hell The Dark Lord could come out and tell him that he was Harry's real father and they were going to leave the world on a time machine and it wouldn't surprise the old potions master. Well that might just do him in but really that was one of the only things.

He stopped pacing around the dull gray room and slumped down in a cushy chair, 'this is too hard.'

Severus was too caught up in his own thoughts to hear the footsteps echoing around the hallway outside or the soft knock on his door. In fact he was so wrapped up in his own pity and dismay that he didn't notice the door opening until a mob of ember hair caught his eye. It was then he remembered that he should never let his guard down because his was the kind of situation he would get himself in in if he did.

"Severus?" The light and slightly shaky voice of Lily asked as she had her way through the heavy door.

Severus wanted to tell her about everything, he wanted her to know that he was more sorry than she could ever know. He wanted to tell her that he tried so hard to be a better person but that he kept failing no matter how hard he tried. He wanted to tell her about everything he had done to try and honor her memory and remember her. But he couldn't. There was no way he could ever explain to her what had happened to him, and he wasn't planning on trying.

"What?" He said in the sharpest voice he could manage at the time.

"Um-" she took a deep breath and tried to make this easier for herself. She still would rather not have had to talk to him so soon but she knew the others had already started the next chapter and no one was planning on asking the man if he was okay.

So like it had always been, Lily was left to solve the problem.

"Are you okay?" She finally asked.

"Yes," He barked out at her with his best glare by far. "I am perfectly fine."

"You're acting like a kid." Lily softly said while flopping down not so gracefully on the chair across from him.

"I thought you refused to talk to me." Severus said as he tried out a new glare because this one was having no affect on her.

"That was more than 15 years ago Severus!" She said in exasperation.

"18 years." Severus said quietly and suddenly couldn't bare to look at her right now. Looking away might be declaring defeat but he didn't care it was too painful to see her reactions anymore.

"How-" she asked awed first that he knew the date of the fight off the top of his head and second because of the implications that meant. Did it meant he had been fixed on this for his whole life since then? But that would be crazy, Severus was one of the smartest people she knew when it came to potions, he obviously was on the top of his field right? He wouldn't have time to focus on something like this. "Sev what happened to you?"

"You died!" He spit out angrily, letting just a bit of his emotional trauma out, which was a mistake. Severus Snape had the bad habit of talking too much when he was angry or distressed, and right now he was both. "I got trapped in this bloody war and you died and I was left wrapped around Dumbledore's sticky finger! I'm stuck on the wrong side of everything and no one even bothers to care! I have given up everything I have to try to make for everything I have done wrong but nothing ever works! Only it's not like you should care about me because you're too busy with Potter making little Potter Jr.s and catching up with old friends! No it's not like anyone should care about me! I'm just the greasy Slytherin with no heart!"

He took a breath and started ranting again before Lily could get a word in. "I am old, I am tired and I am DONE WITH THIS! But of course no one cares! Why should they? I'm just the bat of the dungeons! No, I'm left to watch after The-Boy-Who-Lived because no one else can be bothered to do so! Especially not you! I still missed you, but you refuse to even look at me! Do you know what that's like? To be so ha-hated and s-so lost?!" By the end of his little speech Severus was hysterical and crying heavily while he stared into the green eyes that had haunted his dreams for so many years.

Lily acted without thinking and wrapped her arms around that man she had once thought of as a friend as he sobbed into her shoulder. It was too much to think about, too much to process for a mother who was still getting over the idea her son had been abused. How much had people changed in 13 years? How much had Severus changed?

What had happened to the young boy she had known when she was little? He used to be so kind, Rough around the edges, but kind once you got to know him as Lily did. He had always been a bit dark and a bit of a pessimist but Severus Tobias Snape was anything but broken, or he had been. How much had she really missed?

"Sev. I am so sorry." She whispered as the man shook with sobs in her arms while she slowly tugged him tighter and tighter.

"Lily I'm the reason you're dead." He said into her shoulder.

"You're not-" she starred in an attempt to calm him down, but Severus kept talking anyways.

"I was the one to told the Dark Lord about the blasted prophecy." Severus figured that he had already dug himself in a hole, no point trying to keep his past transgressions to himself. He wanted her to forgive him so much, it was like a mirage for a starving man, she was so close and so real but he could never have her. "I didn't know it was you. I swear if I had- I begged Lily. I begged the Dark Lord for your safety. But- but I should have known!" With a great internal struggle he pulled himself away from her and back into the cold harshness his chair now possessed. "So hate me."

Lily was very happy that he couldn't see her right now because her reaction to his news might just be the push he needed to fall into the lifeless hole it appeared he had been balancing on. It was all his fault! It was his bloody fault that her and James had died! It was his fault that Harry had ended up with her sister! How could he do this! Again he had hurt her so badly and expected it to be okay afterwards!

But as she looked at his face: pale, heavily and stained with tears she realized that he really never imaged it would be okay ever again. No, some of this was his fault, not _all _of it.

Letting out a long sigh Lily slowly sat back in her chair and looked once more at the man who had introduced her to magic, who had gotten lost on the first day with her, who had helped her study when she honestly didn't want to, who had listened to her complain about James for hours on end. The man who had punched Petunia to defend herself and had tried to stop James from pulling her hair when they had been younger. The man who had been there for her until their fight. The man who had been her best friend. Then Lily realized that she had an answer to the question she didn't know she had: yes. Yes she could forgive him.

"Sev," She said quietly but strongly "we're okay."

"What?" He asked in a shaky voice, not trusting what he had just heard.

"We are okay." She stood up and, after some consternation, hugged the man who was staring at her like she had just started throwing spoons at him and swearing in Russian.

"But-" Severus felt himself go ridged when she pressed herself up against his sitting form again, but he wasn't thinking about that. No he was too focused on the small hope that she might have just said what he thought she had said.

When he dreamed if Lily a lot of different things came to mind (not all appropriate) but he had never even considered that. Never had he ever thought she would forgive me. Of course he couldn't be sure that was what she had done, but once that little bit of infuriating hope that Lily might bear to even talk to him again it refused to go away.

"Why?" He said getting more of his voice back.

Lily pulled back and sat down in the chair again. She knew he would ask something like this, Severus always wanted to know an answer and would work very hard to get the information if he had to. The hard part was that she didn't really know why she wanted to forgive him. Maybe it was because as much as she had been angry at him it had broken her heart to see him beg for her forgiveness. Maybe it was because she had felt something inside her break when they saw each other in Diagon Alley so long ago and he refused to look at her. Maybe she wanted to forgive him because of the one time she had seen him at an Order meeting, James and Sirius had started ranting about how a 'stinking greasy haired Death Eater' shouldn't be anywhere near here and all she wanted to do was hex them into oblivion. Maybe when she had held Harry one late night after he had woken up crying and when she had stared at her son she couldn't help but think of what he would have looked like if Lily had married her _real _childhood crush. Maybe it had been because when Sirius was named as Harry's godfather she had known that that title would have gone to Severus had he not dived so deep into social maybe it was because for the past few hours she had seen him get angry about what had happen to Harry. Or because she saw his heart break out of the corner of her eyes every time she refused to look at him.

What ever the reason her gut was telling her it was the right thing to do, and she always followed her gut instinct and it usually never proved her wrong.

"Sev. you need someone to care about you if you aren't." Lily took in a breath and started to tell him more after she saw the confused and lost look he gave her. Merlin people had always said he was good at sneering but he was also just as good at looking like a kicked puppy.

"And I missed you, a lot. Don't be mistaken I'm still mad at you!" She watched as he tried to put his mask back up and failed. "But I think I can get over that."

"But-but Lily!" He said as if trying to talk some sense into her.

"You deserve to be happy. Sev. look at me! I missed you and you deserve to be happy, do I need much more of a reason than that?" She said raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yes."

"Fine! James may be great but honestly sometimes he's a prick and all I have is Remus to vent to!" She said giving him a smiled, if he was going to be stubborn she was going to be funny!

"Oh is that all I'm good for, relationship advice?" He said raising his own eyebrow. As much as Severus wanted to talk more seriously with her he knew that once she was done talking about something she was done.

"Mostly." She said giving him a sly smile and shrugging as she did so, and Severus couldn't help it anymore, he burst out laughing with Lily not far behind. Here they were, being so domestic and normal, he had never expected her to be so nice and excepting right away but it really was nice. It was nice to just forget about the last 18 years- hell, to forget about his whole life! Their friendship had been broken, a war had been started and she had been killed, but they could still laugh like teenagers.

After several minutes of the both of them trying to checking their breaths they finally managed enough air to skilled at each other. They were okay, of course they still had a lot to work out, but for now they were okay and that was all that mattered.

"So you're 33 now?" She asked with a smirk.

"Shut up."

* * *

_**Do you want the next chapter to start when Lily leaves or when Severus and Lily get back. If I start where Lily leaves it will be the whole chapter from the book but if I start it when they both come back it will only be half the book chapter of less.**_

_**Please give me an answer soon because I can't start writing the next chapter until I get an answer from people**_

_**Anyway thanks for reading!**_


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